Pristerodon
Temporal range: Late Permian
Skull at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Anomodontia
Clade: Dicynodontia
Family: Eumantellidae
Genus: Pristerodon
Huxley, 1868
Type species
Pristerodon mackayi
Huxley, 1868
Synonyms
  • Emydops longiceps Owen, 1876
  • Oudenodon raniceps Owen, 1876
  • Dicynodon trigoniceps Broom, 1904
  • Diaelurodon whaitsi (Broom, 1911)
  • Dicynodon pygmaeus Broom and Haughton, 1917
  • Emyduranus platyops Broom, 1921
  • Cerataelurus mirabilis Broom, 1931
  • Orophicephalus microrhynchus (Huene, 1931)
  • Brachyuraniscus merwevillensis Broili & Schroeder, 1935
  • Brachyuraniscus reuningi Broili & Schroeder, 1935
  • Synostocephalus vanhoepeni Broili & Schroeder, 1935
  • Emyduranus gracilis Broom, 1935
  • Eumantellia mirus Broom, 1935
  • Newtonella platyceps Broom, 1937
  • Dimetrodon siwerstrai Broom, 1940
  • Cryptocynodon schroederi Janensch, 1952
  • Hueneus oudebergensis Toerien, 1953
  • Parringtoniella broomi Toerien, 1953
  • Emydops kitchingi Toerien, 1953
  • Emydops murraysburgensis Toerien, 1953

Pristerodon is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian of South Africa, Zambia and India.

Paleobiology

Brain and senses

Pristerodon were among the earliest land animals able to hear airborne sound as opposed to hearing via ground vibrations. A South African specimen studied with neutron tomography[1] has shown evidence of an eardrum on its lower jaw with the implication that it was hearing impaired during the act of chewing. The specimen had a 3mm cavity for cochlea which transformed sound frequency ranges into nerve impulses sent on to the brain.

Ecology

Pristerodon has been found in the Kundaram Formation of India, Usili Formation of Tanzania, the Upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation of Zambia, and the Teekloof Formation of South Africa.

Phylogeny

Pristerodon in a cladogram modified from Angielczyk and Rubidge (2010) showing the phylogenetic relationships of Dicynodontia:[2]

Dicynodontia 

Eodicynodon

Colobodectes

Lanthanostegus

 Pylaecephalidae 

Robertia

Diictodon

Prosictodon

Chelydontops

Endothiodon

Pristerodon

 Emydopoidea 

Emydops

Myosaurus

 Kingoriidae 

Dicynodontoides

Kombuisia

 Cistecephalidae 

Cistecephalus

Cistecephaloides

Kawingasaurus

 Pristerodontia 

Interpresosaurus

Elph

Rhachiocephalus

 Cryptodontidae 

Oudenodon

Tropidostoma

Australobarbarus

 Geikiidae 

Odontocyclops

Idelesaurus

Aulacephalodon

Geikia

Pelanomodon

 Dicynodontoidea 

Katumbia

Delectosaurus

Dicynodon

Lystrosauridae

Kannemeyeriiformes

Vivaxosaurus

See also

References

  1. Laaß, Michael (26 June 2015). "The origins of the cochlea and impedance matching hearing in synapsids" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 60. doi:10.4202/app.00140.2014. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  2. Kenneth D. Angielczyk; Bruce S. Rubidge (2010). "A new pylaecephalid dicynodont (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, Karoo Basin, Middle Permian of South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (5): 1396–1409. Bibcode:2010JVPal..30.1396A. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.501447. S2CID 129846697.


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